Travel-loving Sarah Lancaster from Tasmania in Australia was recently traveling around Central America when the trip suddenly took a dramatic turn.
The case is discussed by Australians 7 News.
During a stay at a hostel in Nicaragua, she was playing with a seemingly innocent cat when it suddenly bit her.
Hippo swallowed two-year-old
– Very worried
As rabies is on Australian lists of communicable diseases in Nicaragua, and the hostel could not confirm that the cat had been vaccinated against rabies, Sarah feared the worst.
– I was very worried, Sarah told the insurance company 1 Cover, which has discussed the case.
FHI refers to rabies as a very serious viral disease that attacks the nervous system of animals, and can be transmitted to humans.
Untreated, Rabies will have fatal consequences.
So Sarah didn’t want to take any chances and contacted Australian health authorities and her insurance company.
However, getting the necessary treatment was easier said than done.
She could not get treatment in Nicaragua and the flight back to Australia would have taken too long if it turned out that she was infected with the deadly disease.
No regrets
The journey thus took her north to Florida in the USA, where a new shock message awaited her.
The price of each individual dose cost the Australian girl a whopping 20,000 US dollars. In total, she would need a total of three doses in the US, before she could go home and get a fourth dose in Australia.
The bill from the American hospital thus landed at a staggering 60,000 dollars, which corresponds to over 600,000 Norwegian kroner, and well above what a young traveler usually has as a budget.
– I definitely wouldn’t have been able to pay it out of my own pocket, admits Sarah, who afterwards is glad that she got insurance ahead of the trip.
She does not regret taking the bite seriously, despite the high bill and the changed travel plans.
